Pierre Gemayel

Pierre Gemayel (6 November 1905-29 August 1984) was a member of the Lebanese Parliament from Beirut from 1960 to 1984 and the founder of the Kataeb Party in 1936.

Biography
Pierre Gemayel was born on 6 November 1905 in Bikfaya, Lebanon to a family of Catholic Maronites. He was educated at a Jesuit college and was a pharmacist in Haifa, Mandatory Palestine before founding the Kataeb Party in 1936. It was nicknamed the "Phalange", as it was modelled after the Falange of Spain as well as the National Fascist Party of Italy. His party fought against France's rule over Lebanon, and during the 1958 Lebanon crisis, his party opposed Nasserism and the nationalist groups that tried to overthrow President Camille Chamoun, becoming a far-right political party. Gemayel failed to become President, but in 1970 he was appointed Minister of Public Works. During the Lebanese Civil War, he initially supported Syria's intervention in the war, and he died in 1984 while still in office as Minister of Public Works.